growing onion bulbs

I also have onion plants in the ground and expecting low 20's temps for the next week. My onions, however, are not in boxes. They can't be moved to a sheltered place. They are out in the garden. Will covering them with anything help?
We were given 115 Vidalia onion plants and I sure would like for them to survive. We live in the Vidalia onion growing area. I would be thrilled if we could grow our own.

Miles, and GG/Linda, onions can handle cold temps very well, as long as they were hardened off properly or grown in the outdoors (as opposed to greenhouse starting). If you are overly concerned you can mulch them with straw to protect them from frost/freeze.

GG, "I mixed some additional soil and bone meal together in a big tub, then backfilled the trench with the soil-potassium mixture."

I think you meant phosphorus, which is what bone meal offers.

Since you're not using the plastic tops/covers on your EB's maybe you can throw some tarp or something over those onion EB before the next rain. It'll save you from dragging the boxes back and forth. I hear ya, those things get heavy! Then again, maybe those cardboard teepee's you made would be enough to keep them from getting flooded, eh?

Shoe

I had one onion that I missed pulling year before last. Last winter when we had over a foot of snow, the onion didn't blink an eye! It came through all the ice, freezing temps and snow with NO damage.

Thanks ya'll, but forget about me. Save those VIDALIA onions in Georgia!!!

I am scraping the dirt away from my onion plants so that they can go to bulb. Is this the proper thing to do? Otherwise, they might grow into green onions.

Yes, that is the thing to do! Last year, my onions ended up sitting on top of the soil when it was all said and done.

Behillman,
When did you plant your onions? What kind are you growing?

I usually remove the soil from around the onions when they start to swell. I think it helps them grow larger.

Gymgirl: I planted my onion plants that I ordered from Dixondale Farms on first week of Nov. I think I planted them too early, I'm not sure. They are the short-day onions. They are growing slowly, & are not even beginning to bulb, but the tops are growing. Like farmer dill says, they will bulb whenever they get ready to do it. Maybe end of Feb. or March 2l..

behillman, I don't believe you planted your onions too early but it's a bit early to expect them to start the bulbing process. You'll want to see good top growth first, then bulbing will appear several months from now. I wouldn't even recommend scraping the dirt away at this point as what happens is the dirt will naturally compact over the growing season and become "lower" as time goes on. You may want to wait till you see the bulbs forming; and by the way, at that point you'll probably notice the soil around the plants has compacted and lowered itself on it's own (unless you simply set the plants too deep to begin with).

Shoe (onion head)

Uh, is the tip of a caulking tube too deep? That's what I used to make the planting holes for my onions. Worked like a charm...

Linda

Gymgirl - how long is the tip of your caulking tube? I plant my onion sets deep enough so they stand up long enough to grow some roots. I don't know if this is the correct way to do it.

You're supposed to plant them 1" deep.

Um,
This morning I removed the cardboard tent covering the 4 EBs of onions sitting under the patio cover, and examined the 118 plants left. I planted 120. One wee, tiny one seems to have rotted, and one got knocked outta its hole as I was covering the boxes. It looked alive, so I replanted it.

I may have been dillusional, or suffering caffeine withdrawal (it was early), but close up they sure looked greener than when they went in, and like they were growing... I could be wrong.

^^_^^

Linda, you probably aren't delusional. The onion plants start greening up and growing pretty quickly once they are planted. The ones I planted in mid December are definitely growing. I planted garlic at the same time (late, I know) and it is all up and about 6 or 8 inches tall. The only thing that isn't above ground yet is the 10-12 cloves of elephant garlic. They seem to be rooting, but haven't started any shoots. The slow rains we've had the past week or so should be really helping!

I used Preen corn gluten around the onion starts, and it seems to be keeping the weed sprouts down. I've never tried it before. If it works in the onions, then I'm going to use it around my tomatoes and peppers, too. I had problems last year with lots of baby weed sprouts inside my "wall-o-waters" and inside the plastic-wrapped cages.

David

stephanietx - thanks, I've made a note to myself to set the onions one inch deep.

Honeybee, here's the info from Dixondale about planting: http://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionguide

stephanietx - Dixondale probably sent instructions with the onions I ordered from them - which I had completely overlooked!

I hate not remembering stuff like I did when I was younger :(